Three swine operations selected for animal waste conversion program

Three swine farm operations were recently chosen to receive the first round of state funding to install innovative animal waste
technologies that provide greater water quality protection.

Super Soils Systems USA, Inc., Tyndall Hog & Chicken Farm, Inc., and Pope & Son – all from Sampson County – will receive funds as part of the

N.C. Lagoon Conversion Program, which was established when the N.C. General Assembly adopted Senate Bill 1465 in 2007.

Officials with the N.C. Division of Soil and Water Conservation, who administer the program, made the selections based on several criteria including

marketability of by-products, ease of maintenance, capability to capture or offset green house gases and affordability.

Soil and water officials who made the selections expect to select a fourth swine farm for the first round of program funding soon.

The four operations will receive up to $500,000 each. Under the program, farmers will be eligible for up to 90 percent in cost-sharing funds to convert existing swine lagoon and sprayfield systems.

The program helps establish centralized waste collection and treatment systems to serve systems that employ new technology. Eventually, the program will establish a methane capture pilot program to help producers create more value added by-products.

“We are very excited to be moving forward to put these technologies on the ground,” said Pat Harris, director of the state Division for Soil and Water Conservation. “This program is the first of its kind in the nation. We have a lot of folks watching.

“I believe we’re working with the caliber of swine producers that can make these innovative systems work. They have their sights to the future from both an economic and environmental perspective.”

Other groups that collaborated with the Division of Soil and Water Conservation to determine the selection criteria were the state Division of Water Quality, N.C. State University, Pamlico-Tar River Foundation, N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Natural Resources Conservation Service – USDA, Environmental Defense, N.C. Pork Council, Frontline Farmers and the Sierra Club.